The nation's inventory of “shadow” homes fell to 1.6 million units in July, a 16% decline from six months ago, according to new figures released by CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif.
Roughly $336 billion of mortgages are encumbered on these properties, down 18% from a year ago, CoreLogic said.
The analytics firm noted that, “The moderate decline in shadow inventory is being driven by a pace of new delinquencies that is slower than the disposition pace of distressed assets.”
At the end of July there was a five-month supply of shadow product compared to six months in April.
CoreLogic estimates the current stock of properties in the shadow inventory (known as pending supply) by calculating the number of distressed properties not currently listed on an MLS system that are 90-days or more delinquent, in foreclosure, or that are classified as REO by banks and servicers.
Of the 1.6 million units in the shadow inventory, 770,000 are seriously delinquent (2.2-months' supply), 430,000 are in some stage of foreclosure (1.2-months' supply) and 390,000 are already in REO (1.1-months' supply).
CoreLogic estimates the total shadow and “visible” inventory was 5.4 million units in July 2011, down from 6.1 million units a year ago. The shadow inventory accounts for 29% of the combined shadow and visible inventories.
